Monte Vista as a model for modern development

:
April 4, 2010

It seems implausible, but with all of the advancements in our society we still struggle with the creation of truly livable communities. We throw money at new residential developments hoping that the fancy entrance gates and the homes with grandiose columns near the front doors will be enough to make a real place that is worthy of our collective affection.

Why does this effort elude us?

I live in Monte Vista, a historic, inner-city neighborhood in San Antonio. Every day, I see new examples of how its physical manifestation builds community.

There is my elderly neighbor who supplements her income by renting her garage apartment to a college student. Then there is the young man with developmental disabilities who lives with his mom and spends his afternoons helping out at the locally owned convenience store just for the opportunity to have somewhere to go. There is a place for everyone in my neighborhood.

Interestingly, the design of my neighborhood, and its land use patterns, break all the rules that seem to govern the design and implementation of new neighborhoods today. The layout of the streets is a simple grid of rectangular blocks with all of its streets connecting to other larger streets that run through the city. There are a few breaks from the street grid that allow for natural features to be emphasized; a street bending around a large tree, or a diagonal curved street to make going up the hill less steep.

There are numerous postage-size green spaces formed by roundabouts. These roundabouts eliminate the need for stop signs, make traffic more efficient, and are great places for landscaping and art. There is enough variety in the architectural styles of the homes that one can describe where they live using more than just their mailing address.

Nestled within the neighborhood are apartments, schools, offices, restaurants, churches, a library, a university and a small neighborhood commercial/retail center. One can walk to most of these places within 10 minutes. The sidewalks are wide and set a few feet off of the curb, making walking a real pleasure.

Most importantly, the neighborhood is made up of a mix of people of different economic strata. There are tiny houses, mansions and everything in between. It's this diversity that adds richness to living here.

Because of the neighborhood's inner-city location and its higher density of residents per acre, it is served efficiently by mass transit. In addition, one can always experience a constant stream of people walking or riding their bikes in and through our neighborhood.

Because of the streets' interconnectivity with the rest of the city, outsiders are constantly driving through our neighborhood simply to get through to wherever they are going. Unlike the concern of many gated communities, we do not have a higher crime rate because of its openness to the public.

There are other neighborhoods in our city that have essentially the same attributes; King William, Mahncke Park, Monticello Park and Tobin Hill to name only a few. Certainly these neighborhoods are loved and protected by the city of San Antonio and its residents who work so hard to maintain their vitality.

A big concern however, is that the total population of all these neighborhoods is small compared to our city's total population. This means that too many of our residents live in unsustainable, and, in too many cases, un-neighborly neighborhoods.

There are those developers who produce both infill and new development projects of outstanding quality, in our inner-city and downtown areas. Where are the developers who are producing the same outstanding projects in the other areas within our vast city boundaries?

We have, as a city, spread our developments too thin and too homogeneously to create real places. The future trick will be how we can carefully and surgically repair what we have already built, in order to create places we can all call home.